Sorrow in the Tireless Year is a two-part project consisting of interviews with Korean artists based in Vienna and Bremen, and a photographic series produced during these interviews. In the interviews, four Korean artists share their experiences of racism and memories of double oppression as Asian women in Austria and Germany, both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. They reflect on why they address Asian female identities and Asian bodies in their artistic practices.
The photographic series focuses on distinct perspectives shaped by their locations in Europe as Asian immigrants. The photographs depict mundane, silent, and unsettling moments of everyday life during the COVID-19 lockdown. In contrast, the interview texts printed on the glass of the picture frames reveal the conflicting realities Asian immigrants face in their daily lives.
This photographic series addresses experiences that resonate across Europe, and the project is planned to continue by featuring different Asian immigrant artists and their experiences in various European countries.